return
by sergeant peace
Summary: it's been ten years since tommy and kimi were abducted and sold into slavery, but now their returning home, can they adjust to their new life? and what about the men in black trenchcoats following them?
1. Abduction, 13 years later

Lou watched his three year old grandchild and his friends play in the park, 'ah, this is the life," he said, "Retired, watching my grandkids, and drinking iced tea."

Tommy ran over to Lou on stubby legs, 'grandpa look what I found!" he said, showing him a metal chain necklace.

"Where'd you find that sprout?"

"Under the tree!"

Lou took it out of his hand, it wasn't a very thick chain, and there was nothing on it, he pulled out his old dog-tags still around his neck, he took one off and put it on the chain, "here you go sprout, you can be a soldier just like your old granddad."

'Thanks Grandpa!" he said excitedly, putting the necklace around his neck and running back to go show his friends.

Lou smiled and leaned back in his chair, "I just love those kids." He said.

"Me too." Someone said, a hard object suddenly hit Lou in the back of the head, knocking him out and hitting him out of the bench he was sitting in, a man stepped out of hiding and looked down at the old man, "Mind if I take one?" he looked around, almost no one was at the park at that time except for a couple running, the woman was already calling the cops while the man was running towards him, _gotta work fast…which one should I take? _He looked at the group of children who were around the old man, trying to shake him awake. He ran over and grabbed two and ran off.

"Hey! Leave those kids alone!" the guy shouted, running after the kidnapper.

The guy turned and pulled out a gun, he fired at the man, hitting him in the leg, he continued to run, until he was out of sight."

Didi cried as the police told her what had happened, "and you don't know who took him?" she sobbed.

"no ma'am, I'm sorry." The cop said, "the man who gave chase was shot in the leg, and the woman who called it in didn't get a good look at the man."

Didi started crying again.

Stu put his arm around her, "is there anything you can do right now."

"I'm sorry sir…there's nothing I can do."

"But I can do a lot," a woman said walking up, her hair was put back in a tight bun and her green eyes were serious "Mr. Pickles, Mrs. Pickles, I'm Detective Carter, and I promise, I'll do anything I can to help you and the Finsters get your kids back.

"Chaz lost a child too? Was it Chuckie?" Stu asked.

"No, it was his daughter, Kimi."

* * *

><p><strong>Thirteen Years Later.<strong>

Detective Carter sat in her office looking through the case file of the Pickles and the Finsters.

"You still on that case?" another Detective asked, walking in, "it's like, ten years old."

"I promised them I would find their children." She said, "and I intend to keep that promise."

"Maggie, those kids are probably bones in a grave by now."

"Then I can at least find their bones.'

He sighed, "it's a hopeless case, just give up." And with that he walked away.

Carter didn't even listen, she was still looking at the files, "I will find these kids." She muttered.

The phone rang and she picked it up, "hello, this is Detective Carter." She said.

"Hello Maggie, its' Didi." Didi's voice said.

"Oh hello, how are you Mrs. Pickles?"

"Maggie, we've known each other for too long, call me Didi."

"Right, sorry."

"That's alright, now, I want you to come over today and have dinner with us."

"I wish I could, I'm just too busy today…"

"We both know that's not true Mag, please, come eat with us."

She sighed, "alright… I'll be there in a bit." She said, then hung up, she started putting up all the papers, "I will solve this case…Mrs. Pickles has waited too long for good news.

* * *

><p><strong>Somewhere in Afghanistan<strong>

Staff Sergeant John Anderson looked at his men in the helicopter, "Alright ladies!" he shouted over the engine, "we've been called in to help one of our Afghan VIPs who's been fighting the Taliban for a few days now, when we touch down it is weapons free, anyone who shoots at you, you shoot back!"

"Yes sir!" they shouted to him.

"Alright! We're a minute from the drop zone, get some marines!" he shouted.

The helicopter hovered in mid air and dropped ropes, "Go! Go! Go!" the Staff Sergeant shouted, grabbing onto a rope and sliding down, his men started sliding down the ropes after him, as soon as their boots hit the ground they were under fire, "take'em down!" bullets flew through the air and hit enemy Taliban, they moved forward slowly, into a small town with a citadel at the middle.

"Staff Sergeant who are we helping!" one of the men asked.

"Did you not listen to the briefing Mavis?" the sergeant asked him.

"No sir not really."

"Some rich son of a bitch who's been resisting the Taliban, he had a mercenary group helping him, but I think their all dead."

One of the men walked past a guy with seven dead Taliban guy's around him, his arm was blown off and he had a desert eagle in his other hand, his eyes still glared defiantly at the sky, "yeah, no shit."

Soon the fighting died down and the marines walked down a street looking around, "alright, lets get to the Citadel, make sure this VIP is still alive!"

The soldiers moved through the town and up to the large doors of the Citadel, "they're open…"

"O'Bannon, Jenkins, follow me, the rest of you, find some cover.

O'Bannon and Jenkins walked forward, the rest took up flanking positions against the wall.

Sergeant Anderson walked forward into the court yard, "holy mother of god…" he whispered, bodies of both Taliban, guards, and Mercenaries were littered all over the ground. "Bring the rest of the team up." He said to O'Bannon, who signaled to the rest to come over.

"Split up and search for any survivors."

* * *

><p>O'Bannon walked through the halls along side Mavis, he looked over at Mavis and groaned, "Why the hell do you have that stupid camera on again?"<p>

"Gotta document O'Bannon, what if we die and no one sees this?"

"Then we won't care because we're DEAD! I swear to god you're so stupid!"

Mavis was about to reply when he heard shots ahead, "we got shots fired." Mavis said, bringing up his rifle.

O'Bannon turned on his Radio, "Staff Sergeant we got shots fired in the North wing of the Citadel, moving to engage."

"be careful O'Bannon, we don't know who's friendly and who's an enemy."

"Copy that." The two Marines took off down the hall way, following the sound of gunfire, soon they came to a large domed room, where an all out fire fight was happening between two groups of soldiers, one group was in the domed room, the others were holed up in a hallway.

"Who's a friendly who's an enemy?" O'Bannon asked, "They both look fucking alike."

Mavis thought about it for a while, then ran forward, "US MARINES, US MARINES!" he shouted.

Instantly the men in the domed room turned and fired at Mavis, who was hit in the chest.

O'Bannon fired his M249 Machine gun, mowing down at least half of the group before they started firing at him, he jumped behind a wall before he was hit, 'Sir! We got hostiles in a domed room about a click from our previous position, they're pretty well armed, and Mavis got his dumbass shot!"

"Don't worry O'Bannon, we're on our way."

O'Bannon looked around the bend and saw Mavis scooting back while firing his handgun, "I found out who's the enemy!" he shouted.

"No shit!" O'Bannon said, firing at the men.

The Taliban soldiers slowly moved towards them, firing, keeping them completely distracted and made them not notice the door on the side opening.

Sergeant Anderson ran out with his men, "weapons free!" he shouted, and all his men opened fire, mowing down the Taliban. "O'Bannon, Mavis, report."

O'Bannon walked out, reloading, behind him, Mavis limped over.

"What the hell happened to you Mavis?"

"Just a shot in the chest sir."

Anderson shook his head, and turned to the hallway the Taliban had been trying to get into, "US MARINES!" he shouted, walking into the hallway.

"Holy shit," Jenkins said, looking at all the dead men on the ground, "I don't think anyone survived, sir."

"Got here just as they were being slaughtered." Anderson muttered.

"We got a live one over here!" O'Bannon shouted.

Anderson ran over, where O'Bannon was trying to treat a wounded man.

"Soldier, what's your name and rank."

The man struggled to breath, blood was coming out of his mouth, he raised his hand shakily and pointed to a door down the hall, "G-Get the...Get t-them h-home." He whispered, and then his hand fell limply to his side.

The marines took off their helmets in respect for the dead man.

"Jenkins, call headquarters, we need more men here to help clean this place up."

"sir there's a door over here," Mavis said, walking towards it.

'be careful Mavis." Anderson warned.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Mavis said, he started to open the door, until a hand poked out with a gun and shot him in the chest.

'MAVIS!" Anderson shouted.

The door quickly shut, leaving a groaning Mavis lying on the ground.

Anderson ran over to the door, "O'Bannon, take care of Mavis!" he pulled out a flash bang and pulled the pin, he opened the door and tossed it in, then quickly close the door.

A loud bang sounded and Anderson opened the door running in, he saw the shooter and ran at her, knocking her down and holding her down, "move in!" he shouted, looking down at the girl, she looked to be of Asian decent, her hair was cut short, almost completely shaven on the sides and a little bit of hair on top.

"GET OFF OF ME!" She screamed, "you Taliban son of a bitch!"

"Here's a bit of news for you, we're US marines." Anderson said, "Now calm down, and I'll let you up.

She gave him a sideways glare but slowly calmed down, Anderson got up and helped her up, 'now, what group are you with?"

"Wild Geese." She said, "mercenary group."

He nodded, "do you know if anyone else is still alive?"

"Just me and my partner." She said, limping past him over to a closet, she opened up the door, revealing another soldier; his breath was labored, and looked to be asleep. He had bandages covering most of his chest.

"O'Bannon get in here!" Anderson shouted, "We got injured."

O'Bannon ran in, pulling out a Med-Kit and kneeling beside the boy.

"He'll be alright, right?" she asked anxiously.

"O'Bannon hasn't lost a man yet." Anderson said, "Now, can you tell me your name?"

"Kimi, Kimi Finster."

O'Bannon looked up, 'No, freaking way.' He said, looking at her in shock.

"What?"

"Is this kids name Tommy Pickles?" he asked.

"Yeah? So."

O'Bannon looked over to Anderson, "we need to contact headquarters now."

* * *

><p>Maggie Carter was sleeping soundly in her bed when the phone woke her up, 'Hello, Detective Carter speaking." She mumbled sleepily, "Am I still working on the PicklesFinster case? Yes, why?" her eyes suddenly widened and she sat up, "are you serious? Where are they now…okay… thank you." She hung up and punched a few numbers in, "pick up…pick up…" she muttered, "Didi, I have news!"

* * *

><p>Kimi sat in a hospital in Germany, she couldn't believe the story that the private had told her, she sighed and looked at Tommy asleep in a hospital bed, he hadn't woken up since he had been injured, 'come on Tommy…you have to make it…" she whispered.<p>

The door opened and Sergeant Anderson walked in with a tray of food, 'thought you'd be hungry." He said, putting it beside her, she looked at it, then back at him,

"Is what your subordinate said true?" she asked him.

"It looks to be like that ma'am." He said, putting the tray on the table in front of her.

"I never even knew who my parents were…" she said, "tommy remembered a little bit of his grandfather, but other then that…nothing…"

"Well, from what the report says, you were kidnapped at a young age, around two or three, it's not surprising that you don't remember your parents."

She nodded, looking down.

"Where you with this Mercenary group the entire time?" he asked.

"No, up until about three years ago, me and Tommy were Servants for some rich guy in China, then one day a rival of his hired the Wild Geese to attack him, when they found us they kinda took us in, they've been like family since."

He nodded, "child slavery, you'd think in times like this, it wouldn't exist."

She nodded, "have you had any word from the rest of our group? I know a lot of us are dead…but there should still be at least two platoons still alive."

"Nothing, I'm sorry."

A knock at the door made her look up, the door opened and a nurse walked in, she was pretty old and had a kind face, "Excuse me dear, you have a visitor."

"Who?"

She stepped to the side and two people walked in, one was a Japanese woman with red glasses on, she was middle aged, and her eyes looked tired, the other was a tall boy with fiery red hair, which went every way.

"Who are you two?" she asked.

The woman's eyes watered up and she covered her mouth, "Kimi-chan.'

Kimi's eyes widened a little.

"Kimi-Chan…it's me…It's your mother." She whispered tearfully stepping forward,

Kimi stood up, limping a little, memories of a kind smiling face filled her head, "m-mom?" she asked hesitantly.

She nodded fiercely and ran forward wrapping her arms around Kimi.

Kimi threw her arms around her mother, both were crying.

"Oh Kimi…" she whispered. She pulled away a little bit, 'what have they done to your long beautiful hair?"

Kimi started to laugh, her mother joined in, "Kimi." She said, after calming down, "this is your brother, chuckie."

Chuckie nodded to his little sister, a smile on his face, "good to see you again sis."

She smiled, "it's nice to see you too.'

"Well, I better take my leave." Anderson said, "Got more things to do in the middle east." He started to walk out.

"thank you, staff sergeant." Kimi said, "thank you."

He nodded to her, "stay out of trouble kid." He said, walking out.

Chuckie walked over to the bed, "this Tommy?"

'Yes," Kimi said, looking back at her friend.

"How come his hair's not as short as yours?" Chuckie asked, looking at the shoulder length hair tommy had.

"He never really cut it, I got used to this hair…" she mumbled.

He nodded, "how long will he be under?"

"We don't know," the nurse answered, "it could be a few more days…or a few more weeks."

Kimi looked at Tommy, "where's Tommy's parents?"

"They're in the US." Kira said, "I was in Germany on business, so as soon as I got the news I rushed here. I know that his parents want to come, but they don't have the money, and my job won't cover their expenses."

She nodded, still looking at Tommy, "When can he be transported?" she asked.

"Not until he's awake," the nurse said, "as soon as he wakes up preparations can be made to send you both home."

She sighed, _Wake up soon Tommy, _she thought, _you got parents waiting for you to wake up._


	2. homecoming

Kimi sat in an airplane travelling towards America, it had been two months since she and Tommy had been found, two months and tommy hadn't woken up. since he didn't wake up the hospital allowed him to be taken overseas so his parents can see him, her mother had already gone ahead to get things ready.

"Hey Kimster," Chuckie said walking over to his seat across from her, "you alright?"

"I'm fine," She said, "it's all strange though."

"What is?"

"Well, two months ago I was fighting in wars as a mercenary, now I'm going to America with my family…it's just weird."

"Eh you'll get used to it." He said, leaning back.

She nodded, "I hope Tommy wakes up soon…" she said.

"What is he to you?" Chuckie asked.

"What?"

"I mean…you're always worrying over him and talking about him…you two got a thing going or something.

"No, nothing like that," she said, "he was basically my brother growing up, he always looked out for me, keeping me safe."

He nodded, "Sounds like a swell guy."

She nodded.

Across the aisle she heard something.

"Izvinite mem, ya poprosil sprayta pyatnadtsat' minut nazad no on ne priyekhal, mozhet, vy, pozhaluysta, poyti poluchit' odin dlya menya.

Kimi looked back and saw an old man trying to speak to a young flight attendant, who didn't know anything he was saying.

"ya ochen' zhazhdu, pozhaluysta, poluchit' moy napitok dlya menya." The old man said.

"I'm sorry sir, I don't understand."

Kimi leaned over, "he asked if you could go get him a sprite," she said, "He said he asked for one about fifteen minutes ago but they never came back with one."

"Oh…I'll get you one as soon as I can sir." She said kindly to the old man.

"Eh?" he asked, not understanding.

"Ona skazala, chto prinesu tebe odin, kak tol'ko ona mozhet." Kimi said.

"Ah, ladno, ya budu zhdat', spasibo."

"He said he'll wait, and thank you."

"No, thank you young lady." She said, walking away.

"Spasibo za promosch tovarishchu," the old man said, "ye ne dumayu, chto kto-to na etoy ploskosti ponimayet ni yedinogo slova, chto ya govoryu."

"Da, no u vas yest' po krayney mere odin drug na etoy ploskosti."

He nodded to her with a smile.

"You know Russian?" Chuckie asked.

"Da, I-I mean yes…' she said, blushing.

"Who taught you?"

"One of the men in the mercenary group I was in knew Russian, he taught me and Tommy how to speak it, we also learned Chinese, German, and a little bit of French."

"Wow, who knew Mercenaries cared about education."

'Hey, don't try to sell them short," she said, "They were friends, comrades, teachers."

"And guy's who didn't understand that children in slavery have another home."

Kimi sighed, "You just don't understand," she said, "they were my family for the longest of time, all I ever really knew was them."

He nodded, 'I can respect that." He said, "Now get some sleep, it'll be a while before we get to Westhaven."

* * *

><p>Kimi stepped out of the car and looked at her new home, "It's large." She said.<p>

'yeah, but there's bigger, trust me." Chuckie said, walking up to the door and unlocking it, "come on in."

Kimi walked in and looked around, it felt odd to be in the house, she had been in houses before, but usually it was running quickly through one, or sitting at a window with a machine gun propped up against her shoulder.

"now, mom got your room ready, but we didn't know what you liked to do in your down time, so she bought you a few things." He said walking up the stairs to her new room.

Kimi walked into her room and looked around, the bedspread was a soft blue color, as were the walls, beside the bed was a desk with a computer and a lamp, in front of the bed was a TV, under the TV was a Xbox console.

"it isn't much, the TV and the Computer were mine about a year ago, and the desk was dads." He said, scratching his head.

She looked at all of the stuff, "and…and all this is mine?" she asked.

"of course! It's yours, you could take it to college…if you go to college." Chuckie said quickly, 'do you not like it?"

Kimi smiled and turned to him, 'I love it." She said.

Chuckie gave a large grin, glad his sister didn't turn down any of it.

Kimi turned back to the room, she hoped none of this was a dream, she hoped when she fell asleep she woke up in the same bed, not back in the old Saudi town with a gun beside her.

A phone ringing broke her out of her thoughts, she turned and looked at Chuckie, who was talking into a phone.

"hey Phil…uh…I was going to hang out with my sister today…yes I have a sister I told you a month ago when I found out…I don't know…I don't know…" chuckie looked up at Kimi, "uh Kimi…would you want to come with me to a friends house, he wants to hang out, and I know he has a sister there so…"

"I-I think I'm going to stay here, I'm really tired."

"Okay, stay safe." He said, walking out, he walked outside and looked up at the sky, 'hmm…looks like it's going to rain."

* * *

><p>Lil sat outside her house, looking up at the sky.<p>

"hey Lil," Chuckie said, walking up to her.

"hey Chuckie."

"what are you doing outside?"

"waiting for my ride to get here, I got the night shift tonight." She looked at him, "So I hear your sisters back…"

"Yeah, tommy is too…but he's still in a coma."

"Hmm…maybe I'll see him tonight." She said, "I am working ICU, so how's your sister?"

"She's great, she's kinda adjusting to life here." He said, "She's not used to having all this stuff."

She nodded, "I still can't believe they're back."

Chuckie nodded, "yeah… neither can i."

* * *

><p><em>Kimi laid in a foxhole, bullets flying all around her.<em>

"_Kimi!" someone shouted running over to her, "Get your ass up!"_

_Kimi looked up at the man, he had a high and tight and was dressed in military fatigues, he had a desert eagle in his hand, he stood there unafraid of the bullets flying around him, "there's too much flak Sarge!" she shouted at him._

"_Bullshit, this is a light rain!" he lifted his desert eagle and fired; "Now hurry up and stand up! We got to capture that citadel or we won't get paid!"  
><em>

_She took a deep breath and jumped up, "where's tommy?" she asked._

"_He and his team got ahead of the rest of us! Now move!" he shouted, pushing her out of the way and ran himself as a mortar round slammed into the foxhole._

"_Thanks," she said._

_He nodded, 'move out!"_

_Kimi got up and together they ran up a hill towards a citadel with guns blazing, "Bobby! Where the hells the rest of our men!" Sarge shouted._

"_Most of us our pinned down, right now only Tommy's team got ahead!"_

"_Well start pressing forward asshole!" he shouted._

_Kimi fired her rifle uphill._

"_Watch out Kimi!"_

A loud crash of thunder made Kimi wake up with a scream, she jumped out of her bed and curled up in the corner crying as more thunder boomed around her, "TOMMY! SARGE! HELP!" She screamed, "BOBBY! DEMETRIA!"

"Kimi!" Kira shouted running in, 'Kimi what's wrong!?

"Get away! Get away!" Kimi shouted, her eyes were wild as she tried to back away from Kira.

"Kimi, it's me!" Kira shouted, 'It's your mother!"

Kimi slowly started to calm down; she was breathing hard, tears in her eyes.

Kira put her arms around her, holding her crying daughter.

* * *

><p>Lil walked the halls of the hospital<p>

"Lil, go check on our new patient," her supervisor said, 'his heart jumped a little bit a while ago, I want to make sure he's not having a seizure."

"Okay Debbie." She said, walking down the hall to Tommy's room, she opened up the door and looked inside, she saw Tommy, lying their, unmoving, she walked over and moved his bangs to the side, revealing his face more, "Hmm…he's actually pretty cute." She muttered.

Suddenly the heart monitor started going crazy, his heart rate increased drastically, Tommy started to shake violently, his eyes shot open he struggled to breath as if he was under water.

"Oh my god!" Lil shouted, jumping back, she didn't know what to do, her training just went out the window, "Um…uh…Tommy! Calm down!" she shouted.

Tommy didn't listen, he continued to freak out, until Lil ran forward and slapped him hard. As soon as she slapped him he took a deep breathe and fell back onto the bed, gasping, he sat up, looking at her, Lil took a breath.

"Hi…" Tommy said softly, his voice harsh and scratchy from not speaking for so long.

"Hi…" Lil said.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"Westhaven General hospital." Lil said.

"Oh…America?"

"Yeah."

Tommy looked ahead, then back at her, "where's my squad? And where's Kimi?"


	3. settling in

Kimi walked into Tommy's hospital room with a tray of food, it was three days after tommy had woken up, "got lunch." She said.

"Great," Tommy said, 'this stuff is way better then sarge's slop."

She nodded, "has anyone from the platoon contacted you."

'No one," he said, "I'm starting to think they're all dead.

She sighed, "it is a possibility.' She said, putting the tray beside him

He nodded, he looked at Kimi, "so how's work."

Kimi groaned, since she had gotten home she had been working in her fathers smoothie shop, and she hated it, "sucks, I'd rather be back in Saudi Arabia, at least there if someone pissed me off I could just shoot them."

Tommy smiled, "sounds about right." He said, looking out the door, "I wish they'd let me out of here."

"Why are they holding you here?'

"Their running tests to make sure I won't knock out during exercise or something."

"It's so we know you're completely fine." Lil said, walking in with a syringe in her hand, "speaking of which its time for your flu shot."

"Um…can we…can we skip that part please?" Tommy asked uncomfortably.

Kimi laughed, knowing Tommy hated needles.

"Oh come on, It's just a little needle." Lil said, "and I need practice."

"You've never done it before!" Tommy yelped.

"Oh I've practiced on the critical patients, but I don't know if I did it right because, well they're dead."

Tommy turned pale, Kimi tried not to laugh.

"Now, be a big soldier boy and let me stick you with a needle." She said.

Tommy looked away, Lil put the needle in expertly and injected the medicine, 'now that wasn't so hard now was it?"

'You lied to me when you said you haven't done this before." He grumbled.

Lil smiled, "guilty." She said and walked out.

Tommy rolled his eyes, "damn, that girl gets on my nerves!"

"She's a sweet girl."

"She's a devil."

"Well her last name is Deville."

Tommy glared at Kimi while she laughed, "have they told you when you're going to be released?" Kimi asked.

"They said by Friday." Tommy said.

"That means you can go to school with me!" Kimi said excitedly.

Tommy looked at her, "we have to go to school? That's…new."

"I know, we'll actually be ordinary high school kids!"

"Kimi…"

"And we'll be juniors so we still have a whole 'other year of high school!"

"Kimi!" Tommy said sharply, making her stop, "what if the wild Geese comes to get us?"

Kimi deflated a little, sitting down.

"What would you do?"

"I…"

"What you do, I'll do." Tommy said to her, "it's you're call, if Sarge or any of the others find us and ask us to go back with them, will you stay here, or would you go with them?"

She looked at him, then down at the ground, "I don't know." She said finally, "yeah the wild geese were the closest thing to family we've ever come too…but…we've been reunited with our actual families now…"

Tommy nodded, since he had woken up he had met his mother, his father, and his little brother, they were overjoyed to see them, and he was filled with happiness to meet them, but it felt off, it felt like he didn't belong, "it's weird to see them though…I mean…it's great to meet them…but…"

'It's different." Kimi finished.

"Y-yeah."

"We'll get used to it." Kimi said with a small smile, "we've gone from Asia to Africa to the Middle East and we didn't even flinch, this won't be much different."

Tommy smiled, "yeah, you're right."

* * *

><p>Tommy walked out of the hospital, his brother Dil beside him, when he first met him the boy didn't seem weird, but now watching his brother walk out of the hospital backwards on his hands, Tommy didn't know whether to be happy with his brother, or be embarrassed to know him.<p>

"So T, mom wants to throw you a party in celebration of you coming back." Dil said, "I told her you wouldn't want one, but she doesn't listen to me."

"If she wants to throw a party she can…but I don't think I'll know anyone there…" tommy mumbled.

"True, except for the Kimster."

Tommy raised an eyebrow at him.

"Kimi." He explained.

"Right." Tommy muttered, fingering the dog-tags around his neck, "hey Dil…"

"Yeah bro?"

"Did we have a grandfather named Lou?" he asked.

Dil faltered and fell onto his back.

"You alright?" Tommy asked, kneeling next to him.

"Uh…y-yeah…" Dil said standing up ordinarily, "h-how did you know about him?"

Tommy pulled his dog-tags up, pointing at the name, "this is the only keepsake they let me have while I was in china, I read the name, and I remembered a kind elderly old man always looking after me, but that's all I remember, and I knew my name wasn't Lou, so…"

Dil nodded, "yeah, we had a grandpa Lou." He said.

"Really?" Tommy asked, "Where is he?"

**Later.**

Tommy stood in front of his grandfather's gravestone, his fists clenched.

"He died about four months ago." Dil said, "he tried to stay alive until you returned…he never lost hope…"

Tommy felt tears run down his cheeks, "I wish…I wish I had known…" he muttered.

Dil nodded, "So do I…it would have made his day to have seen you again."

Tommy wiped his eyes and turned around, just in time to see someone step behind a tree to keep from being seen.

"What's wrong T?" Dil asked.

"I don't know…" he muttered, "I thought I saw someone…"

"You must be tired, come on, let's get home."

* * *

><p>Lil walked in the park with Kimi, "so, you think you'll let your hair grow out?" she asked.<p>

"Maybe, I wasn't really big on long hair after they shaved it the first time." She said, "of course, I didn't even know how to put it up in a ponytail or a braid so, not much I could do."

She nodded, "but you didn't have to cut your hair that short."

"Well this was after it caught fire during an assault in Afghanistan." Kimi said," It was ruined so we shaved it."

"You have been through so much, how have you not cracked yet?"

"Eh, after so long, it seems normal." Kimi said, shrugging.

Lil shook her head, "I don't think I could've done what you did."

Kimi shook her head, "you'd be surprised what you can do under stress." She said.

Lil nodded, turning on the path, only to run into someone, "Ow!" she complained, looking down at the girl that ran into her, she was about their age with shoulder length white hair, she was slightly shorter then Kimi, and her blue eyes looked at the two pleading.

"Elli! You get back here damn it!" someone shouted, quickly Elli jumped behind Kimi as a large guy ran up.

"Sean, what are you doing here?" Lil asked.

"Just trying to get my girlfriend." He said with a smile, "Elli, come on."

Elli clenched to Kimi, quivering with fear.

"Elli." Sean said again, with an edge to his voice "come now!"

"She's not a dog," Lil said angrily.

"And she doesn't have to listen to you." Kimi said.

"Shut up!" he snapped at them, "I know what's good for her, and it's bad for her health to keep disobeying me."

Kimi stepped forward and kicked Sean's knee in, he fell to the ground with a groan of pain, she brought her leg up and kicked him in the side of the head, before he hit the ground Kimi caught him by the neck, "your asking for a lot of pain." She said, pushing him back, "Now get out of here, before I give you what you need."

Sean stood up, glaring at them, then he limped off.

Kimi turned around and looked at the scared Elli, "are you alright?" she asked softly.

She gave a shaky nod, "T-thank you…" She whispered.

"Elli, I know you you're the new girl at school." Lil said, 'what are you doing going out with Sean butler? He's bad news."

"I-I know…but…he was so nice to me when I came here…but a few weeks ago he was getting more and more abusive…"

"Of course he did, he's Sean." Lil said.

"Best not to get tangled up with someone like that." Kimi said.

"I-I know…that's why I tried to leave him, but he wouldn't let me."

"Well now he will." Kimi said.

"Why?"

""Because I can easily kick his ass that's why." She said with a smile.

Elli smiled back.

* * *

><p>Tommy sat on his front porch, looking around his neighborhood, he normally did this when he was bored, he would sit and listen to his surroundings, watch the birds fly overhead.<p>

"Bam I got you!" he heard someone shout, he saw three little kids running around, little pop guns in their hands.

"No way! I killed you first!" one shouted, firing his popgun at his friend.

"Quit cheating! I killed you first!"

Tommy watched the three, firing their guns at each other and screaming at the top of their lungs, he felt his arms shaking as their joyful screams turned into screams of pain and panic in his mind, the calm afternoon air filled with gunfire.

"Tommy?" Lil asked, shaking Tommy out of his thoughts.

"Huh? What?" he asked shakily, looking at her.

"Are you alright?" she asked worriedly.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine…" he said, trying to stop his hands from shaking.

"Are you sure? You seem really shaken up."

"I'm positive." He muttered, 'Just…not used to the quietness of it all."

She nodded, "used to battle right?'

"Yeah, usually it's fight after fight, and when we're not fighting, we're on our way to the next fight, joking around and trying to have a good time."

She looked at him, "you could do that here."

"Yeah, but with who?"

Lil smirked, looking towards her house where Phil was hanging upside down in a tree, "I think I know, follow me." She said walking over to Phil, Tommy followed.

"Phil!" Lil shouted, making her brother fall out of the tree.

"OW! Damn it Lil, why do you always do that! You know it makes me jump!" he complained.

"That's why I do it." Lil said, "Now, this is Tommy."

"Sup man." Phil said shaking Tommy's hand.

"Not much," tommy mumbled.

"I was thinking that you two could hang out, you know, do things guys do or something."

"Yeah sure, but I was about to go work out with Darryl…you wanna go Tommy?"

"Sounds good." Tommy said.

"Awesome! Lets go!"

Lil watched the two go off with a small smile; she had succeeded in getting Tommy away from the house so they could put together a surprise party.

* * *

><p><strong>Later that night<strong>

Tommy, Phil and Darryl walked up the steps to Tommy's house, laughing and joking around.

"So Tommy, what kinda action did you see during your time?" Darryl asked.

"Dude, don't ask him that." Phil said punching Darryl in the arm.

"Na it's alright," Tommy said, "I saw a lot of action in Africa, parts of the middle east and China."

"Really? I didn't know there were wars going on in China." Darryl said, rubbing his arm.

"There weren't any wars, but people hire Mercenaries for every thing, guard details, raids, stuff like that, I've been in a few firefights in Hong Kong."

"That's so cool man." Phil said, "all that really ever happens around here is that we sometimes get into a fist fight."

Tommy just nodded, wondering what Phil would do in a firefight, "you guy's want to come in?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah sure." Phil said smirking at Darryl.

Tommy opened the door and looked around, "huh…it's not usually dark like this…"

The lights flicked on and several people jumped out, "Surprise!" they shouted.

Tommy stiffened, his muscles tightening up, he trembled a little, then shook it off, "what is this?" he asked.

"It's a surprise party bro!" Phil said, pushing him in, "a welcome back party for you and Kimi.

Tommy looked around and saw Kimi, she was smiling but her hands were shaking almost as badly as his.

* * *

><p>Tommy leaned against the wall outside, four hours since the party started and most people had left, all that was left were the parents sitting inside talking, Phil, Darryl, Dil, and Chuckie had started a game of backyard football, with Lil and Tommy's cousin Angelica talking off to the side.<p>

Kimi walked out from inside, leaning on the wall next to Tommy, "you alright?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Kimi said softly.

"You looked shaken up when I came."

"I know, they just surprised me that was all."

He nodded, " did they notice?"

"No, they just saw me stiffen up, but I brushed it off." She said, looking down at her hands, they were shaking slightly, "what is this?"

Tommy shrugged, "probably stress, or idleness, I mean we haven't been out of the fight this long before."

Kimi nodded, "You're right, it's nothing."

"We'll be fine," he said, "we just need to find something to occupy our time."

"Yo Tommy!" Darryl shouted, running over, "you wanna go in for me? I need a drink."

Tommy looked at him with a confused face, "uh…what are y'all doing?"

"Playing football."

"…What's football?"


	4. a night with friends

Tommy sat in the back of his homeroom class, looking boredly at the notebook in front of him.

"Yo Tommy." Phil said quietly, making Tommy look over at him.

"There's a party going on tomorrow, wanna go?"

Tommy sighed, it was his third week in school, and every weekend Phil invited him to a party, but he didn't want to go, he would rather just go home and do his homework, or hang out with Kimi and Lil. "Isn't there anything else you can invite me to?"

"Well, I would invite you to play football, but as we learned, you're not good.'

"No shit, never played it before." He muttered, "I'd rather not go man."

"Come on, it'll be fun."

"That's what you said last time." He said, "and I almost got arrested."

"Because you punched a guy in the throat for looking at you too long."

"Oh yeah that's right…"

"And the party's just us and a few friends." Phil said, "Lil, Chuckie, Darryl, Elli, and Kimi."

He thought about it, 'Fine…but if it gets crazy I'm leaving."

"Understandable." He said.

Tommy leaned back in his seat, slowly falling asleep.

"_This is Charlie Platoon! We need immediate fire support on Kilo 48653901!" Tommy shouted into the radio, he and what was left of his men were now pinned down a mere fifty yards from the citadel._

"_Roger, we got fast movers moving in over."_

_Tommy got into a kneeling position and let out a short burst of fire, and then dropped just as quickly as more fire came._

"_Tommy!" bobby shouted, rolling over, "there's too much flak! Even if those fast movers get here in time they're not going to do us much good!"  
><em>

"_Do you have a better idea?" Tommy shouted back._

"_Grenade!" their radio man shouted, jumping on top of the frag, it blew up, shooting him up and onto Tommy._

_"REGGIE!" Tommy shouted, turning his friend over, his stomach was full of shrapnel and bleeding out, miraculously the boy was still alive, "MEDIC!" Tommy shouted, putting his hands on the wound._

"Hey Tommy…"

_As the medic ran over a small squad of Citadel guards ran into their position, one tackled tommy off of Reggie, trying to choke him._

"Tommy."

_Tommy reached to his side, reaching for one of his dead men's bayonets, he stretched and got it, pulling it out of its sheath and stabbing the man in the neck._

"Tommy!"

_Tommy jumped on top of the man, bringing the knife down again, and again._

"TOMMY!"

Tommy woke up to someone grabbing onto his shoulder, he instantly stood up and grabbed the person, flipping them onto the table, pulling his arm back to hit him, his eyes wild and feral.

"Tommy! It's me man calm down!" Phil shouted, holding his hands up.

Tommy's eyes cleared and he looked down at Phil, breathing heavily. "P-Phil?" he asked, letting him go, he looked around and everyone was watching him, wide eyed and scared.

"What the fuck was that…" Phil asked, more shaken up then mad.

"Sorry…just…just reflex…" Tommy mumbled sitting down.

* * *

><p>Phil sat with Lil in the Java Lava, "I'm telling ya, I woke him up and the guy pinned me to the desk, if he'd a had a knife with him I wouldn't be here right now."<p>

"Phil don't be surprised." Lil said, "he and Kimi have been through a lot, it wouldn't surprise me if they had PTSD."

"I know that…but you didn't see his eyes." Phil said, shivering at the memory, "he looked like he was ready to kill me, and he could've done it easily."

"I think I'll talk to them about getting counseling, it sounds like they need it."

Chuckie walked in, "hey guy's, what's up?" he asked.

"Nothing." Lil said, "talking about homework."

"But…" Phil started until Lil kicked him, "Y-yeah just homework."

Chuckie nodded, "math still kicking your butt Phil?" he asked.

"Hey! It's…yeah it is…" he said defeated.

The friends laughed, "so tonight, what all are we doing?" Chuckie asked.

"Just movies and video games." Phil said, "Nothing too stressful for our new arrivals."

"Good, Kimi's been kinda jumpy." Chuckie said, "remember that thunderstorm we had about a month back? She had some kinda flashback, musta scared the shit out of her too."

"I really wonder what they went through…" Phil muttered, "I mean, yeah they were basically at war, but what happened in it that fucked them up this bad."

"Dunno, real head scratcher." Chuckie said, then grunted as a guy bumped into him, "hey man watch it." The guy who bumped him snarled.

Chuckie looked at the guy, "you're the one walking, you watch it."

The guy was about to turn around when one of his friends touched him on the shoulder, "come on man, we got important things to do before Monday, lets go."

The guy grunted and started walking out.

"That was…weird." Phil mumbled

"Lets not dwell on it." Lil said, "Lets get home before the others."

* * *

><p>Tommy sat in Phil's living room, watching him and Chuckie playing COD Ghosts, Darryl was in the kitchen popping popcorn, "man this is fun!" Phil said, shooting someone with his sniper.<p>

"Hell yeah, the graphic's are realistic!" Chuckie said.

"Eh, I've seen better." Tommy said.

"Where?" Phil asked.

"Baghdad," Tommy said with a small smirk

"Oh…right…"

Kimi walked in with Lil and Elli, "what's this I hear about Baghdad?" she asked.

"Just telling them the graphics were better there."

"Oh yeah." She said, "My teammates sucked though."

"Oh yeah, especially the one who wouldn't stay at her post."

"What about the idiot who ran into the compound guns blazing and almost getting everyone killed?" Kimi challenged.

"ALRIGHT!" Phil said loudly clapping his hands together, "before this turns into Veterans fight night, lets get on with the night!"

Kimi sat down on the couch, Elli sitting beside her, Lil sat beside Tommy, "so, what are we doing tonight?" Kimi asked.

"Just some movies, popcorn, and Phil's going to make us some of his famous food." Lil said.

"I don't think we should eat anything Phil gives us." Tommy said, "It sounds very hazardous to all of us."

Lil, Darryl, and Chuckie laughed.

"Hey!" Phil said, "I am a Chef!"

"You can cook?" Kimi asked disbelievingly.

"Oh yeah, I can make food that will make you cry." He said with a smirk.

"I'll believe it when I see it." Tommy said, leaning back.

Phil smirked and cracked his knuckles, "I'll be back." He said, going into the kitchen.

"Uh-oh, he's got the crazy eyes." Darryl said, siting down with the popcorn.

"Is that bad?" Elli asked.

"It means he's about to go to town with the whole 'I'm a chef' thing."

Tommy shrugged, "if it's anything like Sarge's chow I'll just settle for a sandwich." Tommy said, resting his arms on the back of the couch.

"Are you alright Elli?" Kimi asked, putting an arm around the petite girl.

"I'm fine…" she said with a soft smile.

Lil smiled at the too, then looked at Chuckie, "so what movies did you bring?"

"Dracula untold, Flyboy's, just go with it, and Pacific Rim."

"I brought Warm Bodies, I 'Frankenstein, and The Minions movie." Darryl said.

"How'd you get the Minions movie?" Lil asked.

"I have my ways." Darryl said with a smirk.

"As in he paid me to bootleg it." Chuckie said with a smirk.

"I wanna watch warm bodies." Elli said.

"Same." Lil said.

"Lets watch Dracula, I hear it's good." Darryl said.

"Na we should watch Flyboy's, it's really good." Chuckie said.

"What do you wanna watch Tommy?" Lil asked looking at him.

He shrugged, "usually, when we got movies, they were war movies, and I don't know any of the selections other than flyboys so…"

"Lets try warm bodies first," Kimi said, 'it could be a nice change in pace."

"What do you wanna watch Phil!" Chuckie shouted.

"Dude! I don't care! I'm making art!"

Lil rolled her eyes, "warm bodies has the most votes so…"

"Now wait a minute!" Darryl started.

"No thanks." Lil said, walking past Darryl to the movies, she picked up warm bodies and opened the DVD player, popping the movie in, "If you didn't want to watch it you shouldn't have brought it.'

"We watchin' more than one, I was just hoping we could watch somethin' else first…"

"Don't worry, it's a quick movie." Lil said, sitting back down beside Tommy.

"Phil you gonna come watch!" Darryl shouted.

"Uh…MAKING ART MAN!"

They all rolled there eyes Lil pressed play and got comfortable on the couch, which included leaning slightly on Tommy, who looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What? Just getting comfortable." She said. Looking at the TV.

Tommy just smirked and put an arm around her shoulders, this time she looked at him with a questioning look.

"Just getting comfortable." He mimicked.

The movie continued without too much interrupting them, except for the odd comment from Phil when he asked how they liked their patties, or what they wanted to drink.

After awhile Lil fell asleep, her head resting on Tommy's shoulder, Tommy was drifting in and out.

Kimi was completely invested in the movie, having never seen one like it before, "I wanna be a zombie." She said softly to Elli.

Elli giggled quietly, "I don't think that's a good idea." Elli whispered, I wouldn't want you taking a bite out of me."

"I would never do that to you." She whispered back, pulling Elli close, Elli blushed and looked at the movie again.

Phil walked in towards the end of the movie, leaning against the wall, once it was over he put fingers to his lips and whistled loudly, waking up Lil, and making Tommy jump. "Foods ready!" He shouted with a smile.

"Phil!" Lil complained.

"What? I know how much you like my food, and it'd be a shame if you slept through the extravaganza!" he ran into the kitchen, followed by his groggy friends.

Tommy walked in and looked around, "wow…" he muttered, looking at the cheeseburgers that piled in the middle on a plate, along with a tray piled high with golden french-fries and milkshakes.

"Yep." Phil said, "what you are looking at are homemade patties cooked to perfection, with my homemade French-fries seasoned with my extra secret seasoning spices, and the specialty, chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry milkshakes that will make your heart stop!"

Elli looked at the food with wide eyes, "did you plan on making this?"

"Nah, I was just going to make spaghetti, but then Tommy challenged my ability to make food, so I decided to go all out." He pushed a cheeseburger to Tommy, "go ahead, it's good."

Tommy picked it up and took a bite, "holy mother…" he started, "that's really good."

Phil grinned, "Everyone dig in!"

As they ate they talked and laughed, having a good time, afterwards they went back to the living room and watched a few more movies until 1 in the morning, afterwards everyone started to leave, including Phil who, 'has to go get something from the store before it closes.' Which left Lil with clean up.

"Damn it I hate how he never cleans up after himself." She muttered, putting the tray that used to have fries and the plate that had held the burgers into the sink to be washed.

Tommy put napkins and wrappers into the trash, he had decided to stay behind and help Lil clean, "it could be worse." He said, "We could be cleaning his room."

Both visibly shuttered at the thought, then looked at each other and laughed.

"So," Lil started, "how's school been?"

"Good." He muttered, "not as hard as I thought it would be."

"That's good." She said, humming softly as she started washing the dishes.

Tommy looked at her, smiling a little, he slowly started to sweep.

Lil looked into the window's reflection and watched tommy, a smile on her face, she quickly looked down as he looked over.

"So…I got a question…" she said, looking at the dishes.

"Shoot." He said, sweeping the dirt into the dustpan.

"Did you ever have a…a relationship while overseas?" she asked.

He thought about it, "Depends on what you see as a relationship." He said.

She looked back at him, "really?"

"Yeah." He threw the trash away and sat on the counter, "emotionally, no I never had a relationship, physically I had a few."

"Physically?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

He nodded, "when I was thirteen, the guy's took me to a…ah…"

"Whorehouse." Lil said.

"R-right, it was right before my first assignment, so they decided to let me have some fun…" he shook his head, "didn't really enjoy it much, was too nervous."

"Of course," Lil said, "First time and all."

He gave a soft chuckle, "yeah, I guess…" he scratched his head, "the other times were usually at a whore house, but there was another instance, about three months before they found me and Kimi, we were at a compound, hired to protect a rich guy and his family, his daughter…his daughter always hung around me, always flirted…the last night we were there she snuck out of the compound while I was on guard duty, of course I had to follow her…"

"And you did the dirty." Lil said, "right?"

He turned slightly red, "y-yeah, wasn't my idea, it was all hers, the next day we headed out, and she didn't come to say goodbye, she just watched from her room, a smirk on her face."

"Hmm…weird." She said, turning back to the dishes.

"So what about you?" Tommy asked, "any relationships to speak of?"

"Well, I've had a few, not purely physical, but not purely emotional." She said, "there was Robert, my first boyfriend, he was so sweet, of course he also had an ego the size of Texas, I broke up with him when he tried to cheat on me." She put a few plates on the drying rack, "the second, I was with a guy named Sean, guy was a complete asshole, he was abusive too." She rubbed her arm, "I broke up with him and stayed away from him as much as I could."

Tommy nodded, "and with both of them, you did the dirty?"

'No," she said with a snort, "When I say physical, I mean we kissed, we acted like a couple, I've never had sex."

"Oh really?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah, really." She said, trying to hide her blush as she started to wash a tray, "I've had four boyfriends, and none of them I've slept with."

"Hmm…so you've, never had a…purely physical relationship?" he asked, walking up to her.

"Nope." She said, not looking back.

"Never in all your life," he asked, talking right into her ear.

She shivered slightly, "n-nope…"

"You've never, had anyone's arms around you, holding you close?" he muttered, putting his arms around her waist, "Never, felt their breath on your neck? As they slowly felt you up?" as he said this, one of his hands slowly went down to her thigh, the other going up her shirt.

Her breath hitched in her throat, "n-no…" she whispered, and turned around, putting her hands on his chest, feeling the scars underneath the thin shirt.

He tensed slightly, her touch giving him a weird yet pleasant feeling in the pit of his stomach.

She looked up into his eyes and leaned in, "have you ever kissed someone tommy? With it meaning something?"

"Never," he muttered, "never kissed any of the girls…"

She smirked and leaned back, "guess you're going to have to wait then." She said with laughter in her eyes.

Tommy shook his head, as if shaking off a haze, he looked at her and saw her looking back, that smirk still on her face as she started washing the dishes again, he gave a soft laugh.

"I'm not some cheap whore tommy." She said, "or some horny rich girl, I'm not just going to jump into bed with you."

"Who said I wanted to get you into bed?" he asked, leaning back on the counter again.

She laughed, "I don't know, with the way you were feeling me up, what else were you trying to do?"

"Dunno." He said, pulling out a phone, "oh hey Kimi texted you."

She looked up and felt her pocket; she turned around, "how did you…"

He smirked, "a true artist never reveals his secrets." He said, putting her phone on the table, he walked over to her, "to be honest, it wasn't my intention at first, but when you get the chance."

She shook her head with a laugh, "Good job merc, you showed me you can rob me blind without me even noticing."

"Yep, now I'm going to go order some pizza." He said, pulling out her wallet, "I think I got about twenty dollars in here to waist.

She rolled her eyes, "give me my wallet." She said holding her hand out.

"Yeah…I'd rather not." He said, walking to the living room.

Lil let out a small sigh, a smile playing across her lips, she put the last dish on the drying rack and wiped her hands clean, then she walked into the living room.

"Hello Joe's piz-" Tommy started until he was tackled onto the couch.

"Give me my wallet pickles!" she shouted.

"Make me Deville!"


	5. training comes in handy

Lil sat in her home period class, her listening to Phil talk about his date with Wally, "I swear to god she's the one." He said, "I'm going to marry her one day."

"That's what you said about victoria." Lil said with amusement, "and look how well that turned out."

"Ouch sis, that one hurt." He said, clutching his chest dramatically.

"You say this about every single girl you've ever gone out with." She said.

"What about you? You were crazy about your boyfriends."

"I never said anyone of them were the one." She said, _except maybe Tommy… _she thought to herself, since their little moment on Friday night she felt a flutter in her chest when she was around him, Sunday night didn't help either when he had come over while Phil was on his date.

"_Sup Lil." Tommy said, walking into her room with his hands in his pockets._

"_How'd you get in my house?" Lil asked not looking up from her homework, she had a hint of amusement in her voice, "you know, this could be considered breaking and entering."_

_He chuckled, "what did I say? A master never reveals his secrets, and you wouldn't call the cops on me, I'm too damn loveable." He sat down on the edge of her bed, "so whatcha doin'?"_

"_Homework, I'm just about done with Algebra." She said, typing something in the calculator._

"_mhmm…" he said, leaning on his hand, "and how long will that take?"_

'_Maybe a few minutes, I'm almost done."_

"_How long have you been doing homework?"_

"_Most of the day, I just need to finish this last problem, but it's getting away from me." _

"_Because you've been doing the same thing over and over again." He walked over and closed her book, making sure he didn't lose her spot, and then pulled it away from her._

"_Hey! Give it back!" she said, standing up._

'_Nope, you need to relax." He said, keeping the book above her head._

"_Give it to me Pickles!"_

"_That's very unlady like Ms. Deville." He said, leaning really close to her._

_Her breath hitched in her throat, "s-shut up…" she mumbled, turning red, "just give me my book!"_

_He smiled, putting the book on the nightstand, "get past me and you can go back to work."_

_She tried to step past him but he instantly stepped in the way, she looked around and tried to push past him, he just wrapped his arms around her, "nice try." He said._

_She turned red, looking up at him, she tried to push past him again, but all she accomplished was knocking them both off balance, making them fall onto her bed, Tommy kept one arm around her and used the other to brace their fall, then he slowly laid her down on the bed, "quite the predicament, Deville." _

"_I…I-I…" she said flustered._

_He leaned down, looking her right in the eyes, "have you ever been kissed? With it really meaning something?" he asked, mimicking her exact words to him the other day._

_She blushed, "maybe…"she whispered, putting a hand to the back of his neck._

_He leaned down, his forehead touching hers, "I think I'm ready for that kiss…" he mumbled huskily to her._

_Lil slowly tilted her head back, they were centimeters away until they heard someone clear their throats, they both looked over and saw Betty Deville leaning against Lil's doorframe, taking a drink of a miller light, "oh don't mind me." She said with a twinkle in her eye, "Just enjoying a brewsky, by all means, continue."_

"Hello? Earth to Lillian." Phil said, shaking Lil out of her thoughts.

"Huh?" she asked.

"You spaced out there for a minute, what's on you're mind?"

"I'm just…thinking about things…" she said, blushing.

He smirked, "Mhmm…does this have to do with a…certain merc?"

"W-what? No…" she started flustered.

Phil just laughed, "I'm kidding with you Lil, you and Tommy? Ridiculous!"

"Hehe right…" Lil said, playing it off.

* * *

><p>wwwwwwwwwwwwwww<p>

Four guy's sat outside in a van, "you guy's ready?" one asked.

"Yeah, lets go already." Another growled.

"Everyone got their score counters?" another asked, they all nodded their heads and got out, going to the back of the van, all four of them were dressed similar, black jeans and shirts with tactical vests on their chest, two of them had paintball masks on, the other two had airsoft skull masks on, they reached into the back of the van and pulled out rifles, handing clips and handguns down the line, "Remember, first to three hundred points wins, teachers are twenty, students are ten, principal's fifty."

* * *

><p>wwwwwwwwwwwwww<p>

Tommy tiredly looked through his English book, trying hard to stay awake, he still wasn't getting any sleep at night, nightmares keeping him up during most nights, the only two nights he really got any sleep at all were Friday and Sunday, and that was because his mind was occupied by…other thoughts, he didn't know what it was about Lil that kept him sane, but it was something he couldn't ignore.

Popping made him flinch and look towards the windows.

"What's that? Some girl asked.

"Everyone get down." Tommy said, getting out of his desk and squatting low.

"Calm down Merc." Someone said, "probably just a car backfiring.

The sound of an automatic weapon going off down the hallway made everyone dive for the ground.

"That sound like a car backfiring." He asked, making his way to the front of the room, he reached down to his boot and pulled out a knife, leaning right beside the door.

"Knives are not permitted in school Mr. Pickles." The teacher whispered fiercely from under his desk.

"Sorry, I'll put it up and use your desk instead." Tommy growled, standing up slowly, "I'd recommend moving Mr. Justin."

"This is where I'm supposed to be!" Mr. Justin grumbled.

* * *

><p>wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww<p>

John Marston walked down the hall, his AK leveled towards the hall, he had taken a few crack shocks at some people who had ran down the hall when he first started firing, he had hit two giving his over all score a fifty, "now, lets take down a class room, that'll get me in the lead." He said with a grin, walking towards the first room in the hallway, he leaned back and kicked the door in, it wasn't necessary to do that, it was just something he hoped would scare them all and make them think twice before charging at him, he walked in and instantly pulled the trigger, hitting the teacher, he quickly hit his score counter before knife came out of nowhere and stabbed him in the shoulder, he screamed in pain as someone drove him into the wall, the knife digging deep into his shoulder and scraping his bone, he tried to pull up the rifle to fire but a strong hand pulled it out of his grasp, before the knife wound up in his hand and into the wall, the guy pulled out the handgun that was strapped to his leg and put it to his head.

"How many are in your group?" Tommy growled.

"Fuck you man." John snapped.

Tommy punched him and threw him to the ground, which wrenched his shoulder out of place when the knife didn't give.

"HOW MANY?" tommy snarled.

"F-Foour." He cried out, "I think you dislocated my shoulder.

"What's your firepower?"

"AK's…handguns…" he groaned, "come on man let me up…I ain't gonna do anything else!"

Tommy put his finger on the trigger, tempted to pull the trigger, but instead brought the handgun down and hit him in the back of the head, knocking him out, "you." He said, pointing at one of the guys, "do you know how to handle a hand gun?"

"M-me? W-w-why would I know?"

One of the girls jumped up, "I do." She said, holding her hand out.

"If he wakes up, hold him here." Tommy said, pulling the tactical vest off the guy and clipping it on, he handed her the handgun and it's clips.

"What are you going to do?" someone else asked.

Tommy picked up the guy's AK, "I'm going hunting." He said, a fire in his eyes, and a smile slowly spreading on his face, he ran out before they could say anything.

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Phil and Lil hid behind a pillar as two shooters walked down the hall, "Come out, come out!" one shouted, "we know you're here, you're the only two in your class who got out, so either you step out, or we'll take our time."

Lil shook in fear, the two had kicked the door of their class room and had sprayed the room, they were lucky they were in the back, them and another guy had gotten out, before they saw them and fired, hitting the other guy.

"You know, that girly looked veeery nice, I might have to take a special mission for her."

Phil shook in anger, but he stayed quiet, looking at Lil who looked petrified with fear.

A door slowly opened and a guy leaned out, his fiery red hair standing out.

"Chuckie…" Phil whispered, motioning for him to go back, as soon as he did a gun went off, and Phil screamed holding his shoulder.

Chuckie's eyes widened, he looked down the hall and saw the guys, "get in here Lil." He said to her, "they won't be able to hit you, I'm gonna go get Phil!"

"Wait!" Lil started but Chuckie ran out quickly over to where Phil was, the gun fire was a second too slow, missing the redhead by a few inches, Lil got into the room and held the door open, "come on!" she shouted.

Chuckie and Phil started running, but this time they weren't so quick, Chuckie cried out as a bullet grazed his shoulder and Phil screamed in pain as a bullet entered his upper thigh, Chuckie dove behind the pillar and dragged Phil to the door before they could fire again.

"Damn it they got away!" one of the shooters shouted, reloading, "I'm going after them, I got something for that brunette."

"I'm right behind you, I hit them both, I wanna finish the job." The other said licking his lips.

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Kira looked into her daughters room, "are you alright Kimi-Chan?" she asked.

"Yeah ma…I just feel cold." She whispered quietly, shivering.

"So all you have is the fever now." She said, "try to sleep it off," she closed the door and walked down the stairs, and into the living room where the news was covering the shooting at the school, Kira covered her mouth, "please be safe Chuckie…"

* * *

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Lil, Phil, and Chuckie were hiding in the auditorium; Lil was trying to stop Phil's shoulder and leg from bleeding.

"We can't stay here long." Chuckie said, "They'll find us…"

"We can't move until we stop Phil from bleeding…" Lil said, pressing the costumes she was using into his wounds, he groaned in pain.

"I know, but-" he stopped as the door swung open, he saw someone with a gun and he froze as the guy walked down towards them, "Chuckie?" Tommy asked, pointing his rifle down, "the hell are you doing in here?"

"Tommy…thank god!" Lil said, "Phil's been shot!"

Tommy looked over at her and ran over, he gave the rifle to Chuckie, "anyone comes in you blast their ass." Tommy said.

"How'd you even get this?" Chuckie asked.

"Took one of them down, he's being held by homeroom 205." He said, he tied one of the costumes to Phil's leg, just above the thigh, then he looked at the shoulder, "I can't apply a tourniquet here." He muttered, and took off the tact vest, he pulled off his shirt and pressed it into the wound, making Phil choke out a scream before Tommy put his hand over his mouth, "stay quiet, they could hear you." He muttered, he looked at Lil, who looked close to breaking down, "where are they?"

"I…I don't know…down the…down…"

Tommy looked at Chuckie but he was freaking out too, looking at all the exits like they were about to be kicked open, Tommy checked Phil's wound, the bleeding had almost stopped so he walked over to Lil and put his hands on her shoulders, "Lil." He said softly, 'I know this is bad and you're freaking out, but you need to take a couple of deep breaths and try and calm down."

Lil looked up at I'm and then took a deep breath, "they…they were down the history hallway…two of them…that was about fifteen minutes ago…"

He nodded, and then picked up the tact vest and put it back on, "If I'm not back within fifteen minutes," he said, taking the AK from Chuckie, "try to get out of here, from what I got from the other gunman, there's only four of them, with him down there's only three left, but the odds still aren't in my favor, so you need to get out of here as soon as you can," he pointed at Phil, "if you do get out, let the paramedics know that the tourniquet was applied at 11:45 exactly."

"But you'll come back, right?"

He looked at her, 'no promises in combat." He said softly, "take care Lil.' He ran across the stage, towards the door.

"Tommy…" Lil whispered, then looked at Chuckie, who was still slightly stunned, "Chuckie." She said, jolting him out of his thoughts, "you heard him right?"

"Y-yeah."

"Then get ready to help me move Phil."

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Elli knew she was in trouble when she heard the guns go off while she was in the bathroom, she didn't even bother trying to leave, not wanting to get caught by the gunman, after fifteen minutes the gunfire sounded like it had moved on, so she had peaked her head out, and instantly brought it back when she saw one of the shooters, his skull mask smiling cruelly, Elli held her breath.

"Come on out, I know you're there, might as well come out." The gunman said.

Elli slowly started to stand up, and then heard a loud bang, she looked around the corner again and saw someone running down the hallway, the gunman fired and hit him in the back, making him collapse, "did you think you could hide from me Sean?"

Elli gasped, covering her mouth as Sean tried to drag himself away, the guy just walked towards him, "all the shit you put people through, even your own girlfriend, I think you deserve to die."

Elli jumped out, pushing the guy's gun to the side as the barrel fired off, shattering one of the windows.

The guy looked at her, "Elli…I'm surprised you did that, especially because of who I'm trying to kill."

Elli stood in front of him, her hands and legs shaking, 'killing's wrong…" she stuttered out.

"But he's done horrible things to a lot of people, don't you want to get back at him for abusing you?"

She shook her head, "no, not if it means he dies…no one deserves to die."

The guy hesitated, "are you really willing to take a bullet for him?"

She nodded.

He smirked from behind his mask, and started walking past her, "you got guts kid." He said, as he passed Sean he kicked him in the side, "you're lucky she's hear ass-wipe, otherwise, you wouldn't be." And with that, the masked gunman walked off, leaving Elli with the abusive boy she had tried so hard to get away from a mere month before.

* * *

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Tommy moved through the hallways with practiced ease, his gun in the ready position, his head on a swivel as he looked around for the gunmen, he did all of this in total comfort, it felt good to be able to use his training again, even if it was for only a few minutes until he found the attackers.

"…I'm telling you I heard something.' A voice said, Tommy slowed down and looked around the corner, seeing two of the gunmen.

"You're paranoid, these students aren't gonna come running out anytime soon, I just want to find those three that got away, that girl was really hot."

Tommy gripped the gun tighter, flipping off the safety, he jumped out and sprayed the hallways, hitting one of the men in the leg, the other jumped into a bathroom, Tommy pointed his gun at the downed man and fired, hitting him in the arm.

"Hey! He's down!" the other shouted angrily.

"He'll live, but I don't want any surprises from him." Tommy said, "and who are you to be indignant? You just killed two classrooms full of people."

"Some of them might still be alive, I only sprayed the rooms, if I hit them I got the points, even if they're alive."

"Points?" tommy asked confused.

The guy took his confusion as an opportunity to fire; Tommy hit the deck and returned fire.

"Yeah! This is all just a game!" he said with a laugh, "the more points you get the better off you are!"

Tommy bristled with anger, "you son of a bitch." He snarled, he got into a crouch and started moving up, spraying the spot the guy was at with a non stop barrage of bullets, keeping him from returning fire, he exchanged the clips with practiced ease, so quickly that the other man didn't get a respite, and tommy continued to move forward until he was close enough to grab the end of the guy's gun and pull it out of his hands, he then brought the butt of his own gun and slammed it into the guy's head, as he fell Tommy grabbed him and slammed him into the ground, "you think shooting and killing people's a game?" he snarled, punching him dead center in the face, "do you think war is fucking funny?!" he snarled, continuing to hammer at him, "I LIVED THAT FOR THIRTEEN FUCKING YEARS OF MY LIFE!" he pulled the guy's own handgun out, putting it to his head, he looked back, his eyes wide and scared.

"A-a-are you gonna kill me?" he asked hoarsely, fear evident in his voice.

Tommy just fixed him with a cold glare, not saying anything.

"D-don't kill me…" he whispered.

"How many people asked you the same damn thing?" Tommy asked, his voice now deathly cold, "HOW MANY!"

"I don't want to die!" he cried

"HOW MANY YOU SON OF A BITCH! HOW MANY!"

'TOO MANY!" he shouted in tears.

Behind him, Tommy heard the door bang open, he turned around, gun at the ready.

"POLICE! Get on the ground!" the lead SWAT member shouted, their guns trained on Tommy.

Tommy slowly put the gun on the ground and laid down, the other gunmen took this chance to pull his own handgun out and fired at Tommy.

* * *

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Lil sat beside Chuckie at the back of the ambulance, she had been crying since they had gotten out of the school.

"He'll be fine Lil," Chuckie said, "Phil's tough…"

"I know…" she whispered, "and the paramedics said he'd be fine…I'm more worried about Tommy…he went after those gunmen alone…h-he didn't come back…"

Chuckie put an arm around her, "he has an advantage over them, he's actually had training, and he's no push-over."

She nodded quietly as SWAT members walked out of the school; a class of people following, behind them someone was on a stretcher, Elli was walking beside it.

"Elli!" Lil shouted, standing up and running over, Chuckie right behind her.

"Lil! Chuckie!" she said relieved, running over.

"Are you okay?" Lil asked worriedly.

She gave a small, shaky nod, "I didn't get hit…but…Sean…"

Lil looked at her one time boyfriend, who was deathly pale.

"He had been running from one of the gunmen, and got hit.

"How'd he survive?" Chuckie asked.

"I…I stopped him…he listened…"

They looked at her stunned, "but…he was…"

"I know." Elli said, "but I couldn't let someone die…it doesn't matter what they did…"

A SWAT team ran out, "we need a medic!" one shouted, "kid just got hit!"

Two medics ran in, Lil held her breath waiting, after a while a man was walked out, his face was bruised and bleeding, behind him was someone on a stretcher, a white sheet covering his body, Lil shook a little, hoping it wasn't who she thought.

Then someone else walked out, lead by two SWAT officers, his right shoulder was bleeding from a bullet but he didn't seem phased, "tommy…" she whispered, and started running towards him, "TOMMY!"

He looked over at her and took a few steps forward, slightly past his SWAT escort, two cops tried to stop Lil but she got past them, wrapping Tommy in a hug and kissing him, Tommy looked surprised for all of two seconds, an then returned it eagerly, putting his uninjured arm around her.

When they broke apart Lil looked him in the eyes, tears falling, "I-I was so scared…" she whispered, "w-when you didn't c-c-come back…and then that stretcher…""

"I'm sorry for worrying you." Tommy whispered.

"C'mon son, lets get you fixed up." The SWAT guy said, gently touching his shoulder.

"I could fix myself up." Tommy said, "Just give me some rubbing alcohol and a knife.

"Sorry son, but we can't let you do that, especially with someone whose job it is standing right there."

Lil let Tommy go, "I'll talk to you when you're all fixed up." She said softly.

He hesitated, and then nodded his head, letting himself be lead away to the ambulance.


End file.
